Pablo's Grid / Drop Cloth Paintings

Pablo’s Grid: In earlier work I had used cutout images of Picasso’s Bull drawings. By chance I pixelated a drawing which I set aside thinking it might become useful at some point. Pablo’s Grid Series is a result of using selected ares of that pixelated image in whole or in part.

Drop Cloth: A sheet or cloth laid over furniture or floors to protect while a room is being painted.

I developed an interest in accidental spills and marks left on a drop cloth while a house or furniture is being painted. I search for and collect such cloths to use as a base and start for a painting. I search for and collect such cloths to use as a base and start for a painting. The majority of works in this exhibition result from employing one or both of these approaches. From the drop cloth I select a section or patch that will give me a start.

In most works I will start with a grid, sometimes in graphite or carved back into layers of paint. The grid and what splatters and marks are on the drop cloth will help determine the composition and initial direction of the work. Pablo’s Grid may fill the entire surface or a portion or is often combined sections of drop cloth and other media.

Various stages of the cloth are made visible in the work through the use of transparencies, semi transparencies and opaque colour. This reveals a procedural history of the work. Multiple layers of paint are added, sanded, polished and usually a line or grid is cut back to the original surface.